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Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999, otherwise known more infamously as The Day the Music Died, was the 30th anniversary concert of Woodstock, and an recreation attempt to emulate the original Woodstock concert of 1969. It lasted from July 22nd, 1999, to July 25th. Like the previous Woodstock festivals, it was held in upstate New York, this time in Rome, which was roughly 100 miles (160 km) from the site of the original event. Approximately 400,000 people attended the festival. Cable network MTV covered the concert extensively and live coverage of the entire weekend was available on pay-per-view. Excerpts from the performances were later released on compact disc and DVD. Woodstock 1999 was infamously marred by violence, sexual assault, allegations of rape, looting, and fires. Festival co-founder, Michael Lang, has referred to Woodstock 99 as MTVStock since the original founders had very little (if any) control. Facilities The concert was performed at the former Griffiss Air Force Base, a Superfund site, in Rome, New York. Prior to the concert, the promoters of the event were determined to avoid the infamous gate-crashing that had occurred at previous Woodstock festivals. They characterized the site as "defensible," describing the 12-foot plywood and steel fence, intended to keep out those without tickets to attend the concert. Along with the fence, about 500 New York State Police Troopers were hired for additional security. In addition to two main stages, secondary venues were available. These included several alternate stages, a night-time rave tent, and a film festival, which was sponsored by the Independent Film Channel, held in a former airplane hangar. Woodstock '99 was conceived and executed as a commercial venture with dozens of corporate sponsors, and included the presence of vendor "malls" and modern accoutrements such as ATMs and e-mail stations. Tickets for the event were priced at $150 plus service charges, at the time considered costly for a festival of this type. There were about 400,000 attendees. Reception The festival featured a diverse assortment of acts, and early reviews for many of the acts were positive. Critics particularly praised performances by: George Clinton, Jamiroquai, James Brown, Limp Bizkit, Insane Clown Posse, Sevendust, DMX, Sheryl Crow, The Tragically Hip, and Rage Against the Machine. However, critical and public attention quickly turned to the deteriorating environment and crowd behavior. Controversy behind the Concert Environment Oppressive heat—which had reached above 100 °F (38 °C), and difficult environmental conditions, had marred the festival from early on. Added to this was the fact that the site, a former air strip, had been cleared of many of its trees which would have provided shade. The East and West stages were 2.3 miles (4 km) from each other, forcing festival goers to walk across hot tarmac surfaces, which hurt their feet. Participants were met with high prices once inside. They had to buy from on-site vendors whose merchandise was expensive (burritos were sold for $10, hot dogs and sandwiches were sold for $5, a 10" pizza sold for $12 dollars,, and 20 US fl oz (590 ml) bottles of water and soda were sold for $4 each). If they wanted to visit regular stores, festival-goers faced a long trek, or cramped travel via looping buses, to Rome's modest shopping areas, where stores had long lines and low stock. People stood in long lines to access the free water fountains, until frustration led a few people to break the pipes to provide water to those in the middle of the line, in turn creating many large mud pits. During his set, Kid Rock demanded that the kids pelt the stage with plastic water bottles, which perhaps was making a statement about the high price of hydration. The number of toilets installed proved insufficient for the number of attendees. Within a short time, some facilities, notably the portable toilets and showers on site, were unusable and overflowing with waste. Violence Violent actions occurred during and after the Saturday night performance by Limp Bizkit; they included fans tearing plywood from the walls during their performance of the song "Break Stuff." Several sexual assaults were also reported in the aftermath of the concert. The band's vocalist, Fred Durst, stated during the concert, "Don't let anybody get hurt. But I don't think you should mellow out. That's what Alanis Morissette had you guys do. If someone falls, pick 'em up." Durst said during a performance of the band's hit song, "Nookie", "We already let all the negative energy out. It's time to reach down and bring that positive energy to this person. It's time to let yourself go right now, 'cause there are no freaking rules out there." In contrast, partway through "Break Stuff", Durst encouraged the crowd to be angry. Durst later stated in an interview, "I didn't see anybody getting hurt. You don't see that. When you're looking out on a sea of people, and the stage is twenty feet in the air and you're performing, and you're feeling your music, how do they expect us to see something bad going on?" Primus member Les Claypool told the San Francisco Examiner, "Woodstock was just Durst being Durst. His attitude is 'no press is bad press', so he brings it on himself. He wallows in it. Still, he's a great guy." Violence escalated the next night during the final hours of the concert as Red Hot Chili Peppers performed on the east stage and Megadeth performed on the west stage. A group of peace promoters, led by the anti-gun violence organization Pax (later renamed the Center to Prevent Youth Violence). They had distributed candles to those stopping at their booth during the day, intending them for a candlelight vigil to be held during the Chili Peppers' performance of the song "Under the Bridge". However, instead of the candles being used for a candlelight vigil, during the band's set, the crowd began to light the candles, with some also using candles and lighters to start bonfires. Hundreds of empty plastic water bottles that littered the lawn area were used as fuel for the fire, which had spread to both stages by the end of the performances. After the Chili Peppers were finished with their main set, the audience was informed about a bit of a problem. An audio tower had caught fire, and the fire department was called in to extinguish it. Back onstage for an encore, the Chili Peppers' lead singer Anthony Kiedis remarked how amazing the fires looked from the stage, comparing them to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The band then proceeded to play "Sir Psycho Sexy", followed by their rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". Kiedis later stated in his autobiography, Scar Tissue, that Hendrix's sister had asked the Chili Peppers to play "Fire" in honor of Jimi and his performance at the original Woodstock festival, and that they were not playing it to encourage the crowd. MTV, which had been providing live coverage, removed its entire crew. MTV host Kurt Loder described the scene in the July 27, 1999, issue of USA Today: "It was dangerous to be around. The whole scene was scary. There were just waves of hatred bouncing around the place, It was clear we had to get out of there.... It was like a concentration camp. To get in, you get frisked to make sure you're not bringing in any water or food that would prevent you from buying from their outrageously priced booths. You wallow around in garbage and human waste. There was a palpable mood of anger." After some time, a large force of New York State Troopers, local police, and various other law enforcement arrived. Most had crowd control gear and proceeded to form a riot-line that flushed the crowd to the northwest, away from the stage located at the eastern end of the airfield. Few of the crowd offered strong resistance and they dispersed quickly back toward the campground and out the main entrance. Aftermath Under construction. Category:Chaotic Evil Category:Villainous Event Category:Destroyer of Innocence Category:Important Category:List Category:Modern Villains Category:Disasters